


Laughing Gas

by Hope



Category: Lord of the Rings RPF, Sandman, The Endless, lotrips
Genre: Crossover, Ficlet, Gen, Kidfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-05-22
Updated: 2003-05-22
Packaged: 2017-10-02 13:29:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hope/pseuds/Hope





	Laughing Gas

**laughing gas** (crossover with [the endless](http://www.coscolluela.com/imago/sigil/splash.html))

Elijah has a loose tooth and it's all sharp and loose and numb in his mouth and sharp on the top because it's a top tooth and the bottom, or the top of the tooth the bit that's closer to the top of his mouth is all sharp edged on his tongue and feels like it might cut his tongue but he can't stop tonguing it because it's all sharp and loose and the tooth feels all slick and wobbly and it's not hanging there by much now and underneath the tooth or at least above the tooth where the sharp bit must have sat in before it got loose and wobbled out and is hanging there kind of now where he can move it with his tongue and underneath above the gum is all soft and cavernous and when he pushes the tip of his tongue into it its like the gum is trying to suck in his tongue and the sharp bit on the tooth feels like it's going to cut into the bottom of his tongue where all the cool coloured veins are but it feels kinda cool too because it's not gonna cut it but Elijah kinda wants it to bleed because he wonders what blood would taste like in his mouth and he thinks he can taste a bit of it if he twists his tongue round a bit more up into the suck-gum-well and it would be kinda cool if there was more blood because then it would trickle down his chin and he could lurch around the set and the coffee lady would scream like she did when that extra fell over and scraped his chin open on the asphalt and it was blood _everywhere_ and it was kinda cool.

Elijah kinda wonders if there's a tooth fairy but if a grown up asks him he can stand up straight and tell them that there's no such thing but Hannah has just started losing her teeth and it looks kinda weird the way her mouth all has holes in it now but she puts the little white wedges under her pillow and wakes up to find a dime and she always runs into Elijah's room to show him with her gappy grin that's even more gappy than Elijah's and that pink bit of soft gum at the top of her smile and the other white wedges growing down around it and Elijah _pretends_ for her, just pretends because she obviously thinks there _is_ a tooth fairy and he wouldn't want to spoil it for her and he always falls asleep late with his finger touching the warm enamel under his pillow and when he wakes up he finds a quarter sometimes a dollar for the big teeth and his tummy jumps up and he can't remember when he fell asleep and can't remember when it changed from smooth enamel to heavy coin or soft paper and Hannah's eyes are big when she asks him and he always lets her hold the coin for a while before he puts it in his money box or sometimes he lets her come down to the store with him and he lets Zack come too and his mom shakes her head and says he'll rot the rest of his teeth before they fall out! but he always saves a piece of candy for her on the walk home and she always pops it into her mouth with a smile and a wink.

His mom's gone to get coffee because they had to get up early today for an early shoot only they've been sitting on the sides for a coupla hours now with Elijah's feet dangling off the end of his legs that hang over the edge of the chair and don't reach the ground and they started off with scarves and stuff but as the sun came up it got warmer and his mom kinda has a bit of a cold she's been sniffing a lot lately Elijah's noticed and she must be really tired because Hannah's kinda a bit sick too and she had a bit of an argument with Zack last night because someone had to stay home and take care of Hannah who was coughing out of her gappy mouth but Zack wanted to go ride his bike but mom wanted him to stay home so they had a bit of a fight and Elijah was tired too and when he woke up in the morning his tooth was hanging off a bit more like the little strings that were tying it to his gum were slowly breaking one by one and his mom was tired too eyes puffy and she sniffed all morning and now she went to get some coffee and said to stay here, Elijah, right here and don't move til I get back, k? and Elijah knows that she doesn't like to leave him alone even though he feels kinda bad because he thinks he can take care of himself for a while at least while mom can stay at home in bed with Hannah and watch cartoons on tv but it is nice sometimes to have her around and sometimes she sneaks him some candy if he's had to do a scene where he has to cry or something which he doesn't really mind but its nice to have her there, really.

He has his arms crossed into his jacket and his mouth closed and his tongue pushing his tooth up down up down side down up and swings his legs and watches the director rub his forehead over there where the other actors are acting and where the huge cameras like giant robots crouch and peer at them and the microphone is like a big fluffy animal that Elijah still sometimes can't stop looking at and tries to jump up and pet between takes and a girl walks up to his chair though she's not really looking where she's going and she's probably about as old as Zack or maybe a bit older or maybe only as old as Elijah though she looks a bit lost like she doesn't know where she's going because she's not looking where she's going though her hair leaves coloured cloud streaks behind her like a jet does only coloured and Elijah thinks she might be the tooth fairy only not because he doesn't believe in that but his jaw clenches in panic for a moment because he's not ready because his tooth isn't out yet and that clench of his teeth and jaw makes the sharp bit of his loose tooth dig into the soft bit of his gum for a bit and he feels it almost-cut and it makes him jump and the girl turns her head and looks at him and skip-floats over a bit closer to him and tilts her head a bit and she has short hair that grows a bit down lower to reach her shoulder and curl into the tiny little holes in her teeshirt that looks kinda black but shiny like seaweed that Elijah saw once when mom took them to the beach but like multicoloured too kinda like the puddles around the city sometimes after it rained a couple of days ago.

The girl looks at him like a question and he can tell its like a question because there are little bubbles like question marks only wobblier and they blink out like little fireworks after a few moments. "hiiiiii!!!" the girl says and the letters pop and blink around her head and Elijah's not meant to talk to strangers but the girl reminds him of the smeary glass and the blocks of coloured candy in the store he can see through the smeary glass little red raspberries so many of them and snakes all curled and stuck together and pink and white teeth that he always gets for Hannah for a joke and he sees now the girl is wearing a candy necklace like he and Hannah got one Halloween in trick or treat and Zack was wearing a skeleton suit and said that candy necklaces were for girls and this girl is wearing boots too big boots with laces that look like they are made out of bubble gum when you stretch it long and stringy from your mouth and Elijah's not meant to talk to strangers he knows but his mom didn't actually _say_ not to talk to anyone while she went to get coffee she only said not to move so he quirks his head a little too to be on the same angle as the girl and says "hi. Are you lost?"

The girl spins around in a little circle and then puts her hands on her hips she's wearing gloves that only have fingers halfway up and on the thumb they have little fins instead of fingers like fish only shinier than the fish that Elijah sees on through the glass at the butcher's sometimes when his mom takes him to the supermarket and the girl swings her hips a little and a wobbly neon hula hoop rocks around them lazily and the girl puts a finger on the side of her chin and says "no i don't think so that i'm lost i'm just looking for someone i think have you seen them?" Elijah's tooth clicks against his other teeth a bit when he moves his jaw around or swallows and he thinks the girl must be very cold because she's only wearing this really loose teeshirt that's kinda grey soft old worn like the one his mom wears to wash the car sometimes "what's the word for when you're looking at a clock and it ticks backwards for a bit but when you look at it closer it's really going forward and then you keep watching it but it only goes forward and then you get bored and go to do something else?"

"I don't know," Elijah says, scratching his nose a bit which must be a bit red he thinks he might be getting a cold a bit like his mom who's gone to get coffee and cough drops make the back of his tongue numb and splinter off into sharp little sugary mediciny shards in his mouth and the edge of his tooth is really sharp he has a shark tooth necklace at home that his uncle sent from when he went on holiday to a beach somewhere and Hannah got a little glass bottle of different coloured sands in layers like that cake in the picture of one of mom's cooking books with the pages all greasy like butter and sugar in the creases between the pages "Do you go to school around here?" Elijah's never been to school and sometimes he thinks he kinda misses it but sometimes there are kids on set and his mom's always there to talk to and play with him sometimes if it gets boring only most of the time he never sees the kids again after they stop shooting but he's glad that his mom had Hannah because he's kinda glad that Hannah will never go away although sometimes she won't get out of his room no matter how much he threatens her with jedi powers or even if he offers her to play with his han solo action figure but her hand is sticky on the way home from the store sometimes and her mouth a green colour and solemn and gappy when she looks up at him and Zack's riding ahead on his bike "nooo i saw a girl who had a straw hat with plaits coming from it and a skirt and i asked her why she  
had yellow hair and she had marbles in her pockets so i told her that her hair would grow in orange stripes forever like her socks that used to be white and looooong" she spins around a little with her arms flung out "do you have a car?" Elijah shakes his head "do you have a pet? do you have a nail? do you have the colour of green grass when it's been trod on by big brown sheep boots?" Elijah shakes his head again and she opens her palm and there's a little red frog in her hand "what's the word for the meal you don't have when you are falling asleep and you are hungry in your wrists?"

She sits up in the air by his chair drawing her legs up to fold under her instead of lowering the rest of her body down and her hair grows some more to waft lazily below her with its tips brushing the ground a little like plants in the water that he saw when mom took the three of them to the zoo one day and they went into the underwater aquarium with the fish and the sharks and Elijah was wearing his shark necklace and the edge of his tooth is really sharp too "would you like to come home with me?" the girl asks and Elijah says "Where do you live?" and the girl scratches her head and little grasshoppers creak and flit from where her fingers touch her hair and hop away like little Christmas baubles dropping from the tree "just around the corner and through the hedge below the red berries" she says and Elijah says "I can't, I'm waiting for my mom to come back."

"ohhhhh" the girl says and brightens up a little, lifting her head and streaks of yellow run along the length of her hair and turn green at the ends "where are you going?" Elijah frowns a little "No where," he says to her "I'm just staying here. I'm waiting for my mom. I'm working today." "ohhhhh." She says again "no," then "my brother will know, he has a book, a big book and he likes it when i visit sometimes, i get to go through a maze and sometimes it scares me but sometimes i use a bird to show me which way. my brother has a bird." She unfolds her legs and a small goldfish emerges from the seaweed tangle of her hair and its red and shiny and has a little O mouth that kisses the air lethargically as it swims in a wriggly movement about her head until she holds out her hand and it flutters green butterfly wings and drops into her palm like sand that Elijah sometimes finds in his shoes after they go down on the boulevard for burgers and soda and the girl giggles and little champagne bubbles creep from her mouth and she stomps over in her heavy boots leaving footprints in the shape of funny lizard slithers with tails in her wake on the asphalt in bright pink and a giggle startles out of Elijah when she frowns in concentration and peers intently into one huge camera lens.

"'Lijah?" he starts and feels loose warm enamel cube in his mouth with a sharp crown and his mom is standing above him with a steaming white cup and he spits his tooth into his palm and grins.


End file.
